


We are a thunderstorm (ready to strike)

by Lenna



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, Gen, tattos au, trimberly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-07 11:35:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11058117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenna/pseuds/Lenna
Summary: After the battle, they are one, glued to each other, always together. They just need a little permanent reminder of that bond.(Or the one where they all get tattoos).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MufasaTheChill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MufasaTheChill/gifts).



> A few things... First, this is a gift for Maryne (http://toodrunktofindaurl.tumblr.com/) as the headcanon about the lightning tattoos is completely hers and already illustrated and all (it's great, go check it out).  
> Second, I saw that Trini's father was officially cast Mr. Kwan, so I'm rolling with that as canon.  
> And finally, my English is rubbish and this is rushed an unbeta'd so, sorry if I make your eyes bleed.

In the aftermath of the battle, the city is quiet. It’s not like they expected a parade to celebrate their victory or anything, and yes, people talk about the Rangers and the giant robot that saved Angel Grove, about the golden monster, the creepy lady and her minions made of rocks, but once the sun goes down, the silence falls over the city. The next day, the streets are empty and the only noise filling the air is the sound of heavy machinery working to clean the rubble. It’s kind of depressing.

They want to help, rebuild what they were too late to save, what they ended up destroying during the battle, but Zordon advises them to keep a low profile, to not draw more attention to themselves that they already have. It would be awkward anyway. Billy had saved three men from a collapsing wall, holding it with his zord, and they still stared warily at him.

So, they return to school like nothing happened, because life goes on and no one knows they saved the world. Bullies are still bullies, cheerleaders are still cheerleaders, and they’re still five outcasts that spend their Saturday mornings at detention.

At least they have each other.

Things at home are weird, especially for Trini and Jason. The Red Ranger knew that something was wrong with his dad the moment he stepped into his house and Sam hugged his son, refusing to let him go for five minutes straight. He hold him so tightly that Jason was sure his dad could have crushed some of his ribs if he had been completely human.

Trini’s situation wasn’t much different, only that it’s June the one running to embrace her daughter the moment she opened the door. She kept crying, thanking God that Trini was all right, asking question after question, without letting her go. Still surrounded by her mother’s arms, Trini raised her eyes and found her father’s staring back at her, with a smile on his face that she’d rarely seen before. He’s proud. Somehow, he knew, and he’s proud of her. But she didn’t say anything, just buried her face against her mother’s neck and started crying with her.

After a couple of weeks, things are pretty much back to normal.

They stay together. At detention, at lunch, and during training after school. They even stablish a bi-weekly bonfire night. They have game dates at Billy’s and Cooking Madness nights at Kim’s, where they discover that Trini is actually a genius in the kitchen. The Rangers take turns to help Zack at home, and his mom has now four adopted kids that love her to death. Billy is even trying to learn some Chinese. The last barrier was Trini’s home, but once her friends assure her that they would behave, she brought them home with her one afternoon. Her mother was ecstatic. Her father just smirked at her. Her brothers just kept asking each one of them which Ranger was their favorite.

When Kim answered that her favorite was the Yellow Ranger, Trini’s ears turned bright red, Zack wiggled his brows, and Mr. Kwan snorted at his daughter’s reaction.

Kimberly and Trini coffee dates are also the new normal. Trini tries to not question their meaning, the fact that Kim wants to spend time alone with her, or how they always seem to find an excuse to touch each other. She just welcomes the warm feeling that spreads all over her body every time Kim smiles at her.

The old Krispy Kreme might be gone, but it’s legacy goes on in a little shop, secluded in a part of the city that was untouched by the battle, and there’s where the boys find them. Alone, in a little table on a corner, with their coffees half gone, while Kim is drawing something on her friend’s wrist.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Taking a chair from the nearest table, Jason sits with them while Billy and Zack wait for their drinks.

“Trying a new canvas for my art,” Kim answers without taking her eyes away from Trini’s forearm.

“That marker better washes off, Hart. I don’t need my mom flipping out, thinking that I’ve got a tattoo or something.”

“Who’s getting a tattoo?” Zack’s ask, leaving his and Jason’s coffee on the table and grabbing another one and a couple of chairs more to join the girls.

“No one is getting a tattoo,” Trini says, “Kim was just feeling creative and decided to draw a lightning bolt on my wrist with a sharpie.”

“Wait, guys, that’s actually a great idea.”

“What? Using me as a canvas?” Trini retorts sarcastically at Jason’s comment.

“No! The lightning bolt tattoo!” He says excitedly, “We all should get one.”

“Wait. What?” Billy stares at his friend, “Jason, are you seriously saying that we all get matching tattoos?”

“Yeah! Why not? Each one with our color. Come on, what do you say?”

“I’m in.”

Everyone stares at Kim, who’s just absently giving the finishing touches to her masterpiece.

“You want a tattoo?” Trini asks, trying to not shiver when Kimberly traces the lines of the drawing on her skin.

“Yeah, why not? Something simple, like this one, but in pink, and somewhere easy to hide,” Then she stands from her chair, and taking Trini’s hand, urges her friend to do the same, “Come on, I actually know a guy that could do it today.”

Jason takes a last sip of his coffee and stands next to them.

“Guys? Are we really getting tattoos?” Billy asks, still coffee in hand, and watching how his friends leave the cafeteria in a hurry, “Guys?!”

+++

Half an hour later, the five rangers are standing in front of a little tattoo parlor.

“Guys, I’m not so sure about this. I would love to get a tattoo with you all, something that makes us a team forever, but I’m not sure that my mother would approve of it.”

“It’s okay Billy,” Jason assures him, “You don’t have to do it.”

“But I want to. Wait. Yes. Maybe I can get it some place where my mom won’t see it, like Kimberly said. Maybe on my ankle? I always wear socks, anyway.”

Jason smiles at him and they start walking towards the shop.

“You all know that this is a stupid idea, right?” Zack stops them before Jason can open the door, “Like, we are already obvious enough with our damn color coded wardrobe. Tattoos would be like screaming LOOK AT ME, I’M A FUCKING POWER RANGER!”

Trini and Jason exchange a look, trying to understand how it’s possible that Zack Taylor is actually the rational one in this situation, but their astonishment is short-lived, because Zack starts laughing, and is already unbuttoning his pants.

“I’m kidding. Way ahead of you, losers!” And then he lowers his pants enough to show a black lightning bold on his left butt cheek.

“Zack!” The girls and Jason exclaim.

“Put your damn pants on, man!” Trini says.

“That is a nice place for a tattoo.”

“Thanks, Blue.”

“Why did you get it? And without telling us!” Jason asks a bit insulted that he hasn’t been informed of that development.

“I was bored one day, and I remembered that drawing of the lightning with our colors that Kim made at detention,” He explains, “I thought it was cool. So, next thing I know I’m taking off my pants and showing my butt to a really nice lady that thought that I was a Power Ranger’s crazy fan or something,” Zack then puts an arm around the small frame of Trini’s back and smiles, “So, who’s going to be the first?”

+++

“OH MY GOOOD!! WHY DOES IT HURTS SO MUCH?!”

“Jason, you’re crushing my hand!”

The mighty Red Ranger is in tears the moment the needle touches his hip. Kim, as the good friend she is, has offered her hand as support, but instantly regrets it, because she’s pretty sure that Jason has broken something with the strength he’s holding it.

“Such a fearless leader we have,” Trini, watching closely, snorts.

Zack is doubled in a corner, laughing, while Billy pays close attention at the way the tattoo artist works.

“I CAN GET PUNCHED BY ALIENS AND BARELY FEEL IT WHY DOES THIS HURTS SO MUCH??!” The pain stops for a brief second, because the artist gives Jason a confused look, but then he shakes his head and returns to his work. This time, when Jason squeezes Kim’s hand, she’s sure that she’s heard something on her hand popping out of place.

“SUCK IT UP YOU FUCKING BABY!” She snaps, “IT WAS YOUR STUPID IDEA!”

Trini ends up joining Zack in the background, both losing it, while Kim and Jason keep screaming at each other for another thirty minutes.

When it’s done, Jason jumps off the stretcher and stares at the little red lightning on his hip.

“Well… That wasn’t so bad.”

“IT WASN’T SO BAD?!” Kim screams in his ear and proceeds to punch him in the stomach, “YOU BROKE MY FUCKING HAND!”

“YOU JUST PUNCHED ME WITH THAT HAND!”

Alan, the tattoo artist, turns to the other three rangers.

“So, who’s next?”

Trini walks towards the stretcher, takes off her shirt, and picks up her hair in a loose bun.

The screaming stops instantly because Kim’s attention is focused on Trini’s well defined back, and the fact that she’s only wearing a bra now.

“Well…” Trini says before laying down on her stomach, “In case my mother finds out about this, I want you to know that I love you, guys.”

“Hey, as I said to Billy, you don’t have to do this if you’re not sure.” Jason says.

“Just because you cried like a baby the entire time doesn’t mean everyone is as chicken as you, homeboy,” Jason can’t see it, but he’s pretty sure that she’s smirking right now, while Kim, Zack and Billy start laughing again, “Besides,” She continues while the machine starts buzzing again, “I doubt that my parents will pay enough attention to me to notice a yellow lightning bold between my shoulder blades, anyway.”

Because Trini is quieter and easier to work with, Alan finishes faster than he did with Jason, and soon Billy is the one taking her place on the stretcher. He doesn’t care too much about the pain, so he keeps asking about the mechanical aspects of the equipment, and how it actually works.

Kimberly is the last one to go.

As soon as Billy is done, she takes off her pants shamelessly. Trini’s eyes go wide, and she’s pretty sure her heart has skipped a beat or two. Jason covers his eyes with his left hand, and when he hears a small “oh” coming from Billy, he reaches to cover his eyes with her right one, too.

“WAY TO GO KIM!” Zack shouts while staring at the wall, “You just gave our little Yellow an aneurism!”

Trini feels like she’s ready to combust.

“This looks really nice, Kim,” Alan comments, pointing at the hindi symbol peeking out of her underwear, on her hip bone, “How long has it been? A year?”

“Almost,” And then, feeling the eyes of her friends again on her, and knowing that they wanted to ask, she explains, “I got it for my grandma, when she passed away. Alan is an old friend of my dad.” The rangers nod, understanding, “So, what do you think?” She says pointing at the skin on her other hip bone, and staring at Trini, “Here?”

“Perfect,” Trini answers with a shy smile.

+++

When they leave the parlor, the streets are already dark. Alan walks them outside and gives Kim a hug, while he whispers a barely audible “stay safe” in her ear, before saying goodbye to the others. Zack, being his creepy self, does an “I’m watching you” motion between his eyes and the artist.

“Remember, dude, we were never here,” He says, trying to sound menacing. Trini snorts at Zach, while Billy drags him away by his jacket.

They start walking away side by side. Billy is smiling, Zack almost skipping, Jason and Kim having a playful banter, where the Red Ranger defends that he’s not, in fact, a baby, and Kimberly just has to poke his hip slightly to make her point valid, and Trini keeps smiling like she’s never been able to, because the slight burn on her back is a reminder that finding that coin didn’t just turn her into a superhero, it also gave her this new family full of weirdos that would get matching tattoos just to feel closer to each other.

“HEY, KIM!” Alan shouts from the door of his shop before they are too far away, “I THINK THE YELLOW ONE IS MY FAVORITE TOO!”

+++

Later, when Trini is at home, already changed into a pair of comfy shorts, with no makeup, hair again in a loose bun, and ready to take care of the tattoo as Alan explained, she realizes that she’s overlooked an important detail.

**TisforTooth:** _Hey, guys. I think I’ve made a big mstk._

**Billy:** _What’s wrong?_

**TisforTooth:** _I know the tat will probably heal in a couple of days, but I might need an extra hand ‘til then?_

**ZZzzZzz:** _OH MY GOD! YOUR TINY ARMS CAN’T REACH IT! THIS IS GOLD!_

**TisforTooth:** _SHUT THE HELL UP, ZACK!_

**ZZzzZzz:** _Sooo, any1 in mind to give u that extra hand? *wiggling eyebrows*_

**Billy:** _I’m already pass my curfew, sorry, Trini. But I can help tomorrow if you want._

**TisforTooth:** _Thanks Billy :)_

**RedT:** _I can be there in ten._

**Hart &Soul: ** _DON’T YOU DARE, SCOTT!_

Five minutes later, not being able to reach the tattoo on her back to put the ointment properly is the last of Trini’s problems, because Kimberly Hart doing it for her? That is another level of trouble.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some old-fashioned unresolved sexual tension.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised a second part. I deliver a second part.  
> Also unbeta'd. Feel free to point out the mistakes.

“You don’t have to keep doing this, you know?” Turning her head slightly, Trini looks over her shoulder at Kimberly, who’s focused on carefully applying the ointment between her shoulder blades, “I’m pretty sure the tattoo is already healed by now.”

“It’s important to take proper care of it during the first days,” Kim says, gently rubbing the smooth skin of Trini’s back.

“I know that. But I’m also a superhero with enhanced healing. That should reduce the usual process to hours.”

Trini wants desperately for Kim to stop touching her. Well, she doesn’t _want_ to, as much as she _needs_ to. The first night she almost passed out, because she was sitting on her bed, without a shirt on, and Kimberly was taking her time spreading the damn ointment over the tattoo, making her whole body shiver in the process. She couldn’t breathe. It shouldn’t have taken more than five minutes, but Kim seemed to enjoy making her friend’s heart do a somersault every time her fingers dared to go much lower than they should.

“You’ve been doing this three times a day during the last four days, Kim,” She says after taking a deep breath, “My skin back there is probably as smooth as a baby’s butt by now.”

“Is this your gentle attempt to get rid of me?”

 _This is me trying to keep my sanity and our friendship intact,_ Trini thinks to herself. Because she’s been getting these dreams, these fantasies, _delusions,_ about moments like this with Kim. Moments where they are alone, in silence, where Kimberly’s soft hands explore her body in ways that would leave her breathless. She's dreamed of Kim’s lips placing tender kisses on the still sensitive skin between her shoulder blades, of her voice, low and husky, whispering in her ear...

“Are you cold?” Kim asks, suddenly, “You’re shivering.”

“A little,” She lies, reaching for her shirt and quickly putting it on. She’s not cold, not at all. In fact, Trini feels like burning inside, like she’s about to combust, and she needs to put some distance between them, or she’ll end up doing something stupid.

After Trini moves away from her, Kim immediately stands up from the bed and moves a few steps back. Trini takes a deep breath and turns to look at her friend, who’s staring at her own feet and playing with the hem of her shirt.

“I guess I should get going,” Kim mutters, not really convinced of her own words.

“Uhm… Yeah. Thanks for, you know, doing this.”

“Of course,” Kimberly’s eyes find hers, and she gives her a shy smile, something unusual coming for the Pink Ranger, “You would have done the same.”

“Well, yours is on a place that’s actually very, _very_ easy to reach,” Trini’s eyes, inadvertently, go south and end up at Kim’s hips. She has been trying not to think about it, about how easily would be for her to make whatever excuse that would cross her mind, and just touch her _there_.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind if you did it,” The instant the words leave Kimberly’s lips, she seems to realize that she’s said them out loud, because her face turns hilariously red, “Well, I-I’m… I’m going to…” She gestures to the window, and nervously walks towards it, “See you tomorrow, right?”

Trini, still trying to process Kim’s words, just nods and mumbles a quiet _“right”._

Seconds later, she’s alone in her room.

+++

The moment her feet touch the ground, Kimberly is hyperventilating.         

She shouldn’t be. She shouldn’t have panicked the way she did. She should have been smoother, or careful enough to not say anything like that and scare Trini in the process.

The thing is… Kim knows exactly what is going on between them. She’s known for a while. She’d have to be completely blind to not notice the way the other girl stares at her sometimes. With need, with lust, with something beyond any feelings of friendship. She _knows._ Trini is the oblivious one in this relationship, not her.

But Kimberly has been patient, taking one step at a time, building a strong bond, coffee date after coffee date. She wanted Trini to be comfortable with her, to feel treasured and loved, reassure her that what they had wasn’t just because of the Ranger’s bond. Kim had also been giving herself time to make sure that what she felt for her friend wasn’t just physical. There’s a ridiculous amount of unresolved sexual tension between them, that is painfully clear to everyone except the Yellow Ranger, but Kimberly couldn’t risk what they have now based just on an attraction. Luckily for her, it didn’t take her long to realize that she’s been falling in love with Trini the moment she started running after the girl that day at the mine.

It was a matter of time, then. Of how long it would take Trini to catch up.

But she had to go and open her big damn mouth, and then just went and jumped off that window, instead of staying and facing the consequences.

It’s not like she wasn’t going to tell Trini soon. The last four days had been all about hinting at the true nature of her feelings for the other girl. But Trini seems to be more obtuse than Kim had expected at first, and the frustration combined with the _very_ vivid dreams she’s been having lately ended up with her spilling some of her inner thoughts, causing the most awkward five seconds of her entire life. Because, yes, she’s been having extremely detailed visions about her friend touching the pink lightning tattoo. More precisely, she’s been having thoughts of Trini touching it with her lips, while she’s on her knees, between her legs, while Kim shivers, and gasps, and buries her hands in the other girl’s wild chestnut mane.

Now Kim has to make up her mind and decide.

She could avoid the issue; let Trini think that she didn’t mean anything with that comment.

Or, she could go for the kill the moment they meet next morning for their usual coffee, grab the other girl’s face and just kiss her like there’s no tomorrow. That could go spectacularly well, but also has the potential to be a disaster of gigantic proportions.

“Hey, pretty girl,” Kim, surprised by the voice, turns around to find Trini looking at her from her window, “Are you planning on spending the night standing outside my house?”

“Maybe I want to guard your dreams,” She says back without thinking. _Again_.

“You know you’d be more comfortable in my bed for that, right?”

Taken aback by Trini’s blunt offer, Kim needs to take a moment to think about the consequences of going back through that window and into the girl’s room. Seeing the dazzling smile on her friend’s face, Kimberly knows that if she goes back there with Trini, they wouldn’t talk at all.

“Maybe tomorrow?” She asks instead, with a hint of hope in her voice, “After the bonfire?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Trini stands from the edge of the window where she was leaning, but before she goes back inside, she smiles again, “Goodnight, Kim.”

“Goodnight, Trini.”

Kimberly keeps grinning like an idiot the whole way back to her house.

+++

She really didn’t know what to expect the next morning, but having Zack Taylor showing up before they can even grab their coffee and sit, definitely wasn’t on her plans.

“Why are you even here?” She asks the boy, “On Saturdays you usually won’t wake up until twenty minutes before detention starts.”

“I don’t know. I just woke up and decided to crash your coffee date,” He shrugs unapologetically.

The worst thing about it is that both girls believe that that it’s exactly what happened.

Kim isn’t saying anything, but Trini can feel the other girl’s eyes on her the whole time, making her whole body burn.

Zack didn’t gave them time enough to talk, but she’s sure that Kim crossed a line last night, that she followed her, and that they would have crossed a bunch more together if the Pink Ranger hadn’t been coolheaded enough to jump off her window. The few seconds that had taken her to react to the comment that slipped past through Kim’s lips the previous night were all the other girl needed to go running away from her, leaving Trini alone in her room with a storm of feelings already messing up with her head. Had she imagined it all? Did Kim regret saying it? Could it really be that she wasn’t the only one with those feelings? That Kimberly wanted her, too? 

She had been ready to jump from her window and go after her friend, when she saw Kim standing outside.

Then, suddenly, they were flirting, and Trini was offering her bed without thinking… And thank god Kim had been smart enough to decline.

After that, she had gone to bed, tried to sleep, and failed miserably, because she spent all night thinking about the many ways in which she could touch Kim’s lightning bolt tattoo.

So, right now Trini is sleepy, grumpy, and extremely frustrated. She only finds solace in the fact that, sitting across from her, Kimberly doesn’t seem to be doing much better.

+++

Detention today has been a torture, but training is being literal hell.

Kim has been trying to distract herself all day from thinking about Trini, about what happened last night, and about that conversation that they would have had if Zack hadn’t decided to ruin her plans first thing in the morning.

If it wasn’t enough, Trini has chosen today to wear an amazingly fitting new sports bra that, somehow, has an opening right where her lightning bolt is. Kim wonders if the Yellow Ranger is wearing it today on purpose. If she is aware of the torture she’s putting Kim through when, after a while, she takes of her shirt, picks up her hair in a ponytail, and starts sparring with Jason like that.

Zack, unaware that she isn’t paying attention, ends up punching her on the stomach, and Kim falls to her knees, trying to get some air back into her lungs.

“Kim! Are you alright?!” He asks with worry in his voice, “I thought you were going to block that!”

“Yeah, yeah,” She says between breaths, “I was distracted.”

“You’ve been like that all day. Are you sure you’re a…”

“Kim! What happened?” Trini, followed by Jason and Billy, comes running towards her. Then she’s punching Zack on his arm, “You fucking asshole! What did you do?!”

Slightly recovered, Kim stands up and puts a hand on the smaller girl’s arm.

“Hey, I’m alright,” She reassures the girl, “He just caught me off guard.”

“That would be a first.”

“Yeah, well, you can blame yourself for that.”

“Me? Why would it be my…” She watches as Kim raises an eyebrow at her and smirks, gesturing with her finger at the Yellow Ranger’s body. That’s when Trini understands, “Okay, no. It’s not my fault that you don’t have enough willpower to keep your head on the fight.”

“Would you have it if I did this while training?” Wanting to make a point, Kim folds the waist of her pants, enough to let Trini catch a glimpse of her tattoo. The other girl’s jaw falls open, and her face turns as red as Jason’s armor.

“Hey, can I join the Pants Down party?” Zack, amused with the situation, is already hands on the matter.

A collective _NO_ echoes through the whole cave.

“Okay, Kim, Trini, it’s clear that you two have something to discuss,” Jason points out, “And it’s probably better for everyone if you do it in private. So, let’s wrap training for today. You go home, talk, and figure it all out. Zack, Billy and I will have a boys only night or something.”

“That means I want details tomorrow,” Zack winks at Trini, and she growls at him.

+++

They walk back to the town in silence. It’s still pretty early and there’s still some daylight, so they don’t have to rush.

It’s awkward the first ten minutes, because it becomes clear that they’re both hesitating on how to start _that_ conversation, but then, in an unexpected turn of events, Trini takes Kimberly’s hand in hers and intertwines their fingers.

“So… Last night,” She says, staring at her feet while they walk.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t imagine it, right?”

“No,” Kim confirms, “No, you didn’t.”

“You wanted to…?”

“Very much so.”

“And you still want to?”

“More than anything.”

At that, Trini turns her head to look at Kim, who stares back at her with a shy grin on her lips, urging her to continue talking.

“Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“I didn’t want to scare you,” Kim replies, “I wanted to make sure that we were on the same page. What happened last night wasn’t exactly the plan.”

“So, what happened? Do I make you so hot and bothered that you can’t follow your own plans?” Trini is mostly kidding, but Kimberly stops dead in her tracks.

“Yes,” It’s the taller girl’s blunt answer. Then she tugs at Trini’s hand, pulling her closer, almost erasing any distance between them, “I think I may have a thing for tattoos.”

“Yeah?” Trini’s question is answered with a slight nod and a growing smirk on Kim’s face, “I may have a thing for _you_.”

+++

Jason is sitting in front of the fire, listening to Billy explaining his latest project, when he gets a new message from Kim.

_Getting the tats was the best fucking idea u ever had as a leader of this team. Thanks!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now it's finished.  
> You can now provide comments and kudos at your will. They'll be very much appreciated.


End file.
